Like something out of a twisted Disney nightmare, President of Russia Vladmir Putin took to the skies, clothed in white overalls and a faux beak, and rigged into a strange flying contraption, in a fantastic effort to teach darling baby birdies—cranes, to be precise—how to fly.

The "Flight of Hope", as it is called, aims to preserve rare crane species. Bred in captivity, the young cranes are coached in flight by suited adult humans mean to resemble grown cranes.